The present invention relates to a razor head, especially a razor blade unit that is to be disposed at the front end of a handle of a wet razor. The razor head includes a plastic body having a front guide strip and a rear protective cover. Either a single or twin blades made of steel are fixedly disposed in the plastic body. The razor blade or blades are protected by a protective wire that extends over the cutting edges. The protective cover can be provided with a glide strip.
Various embodiments of wet or safety razors are known. In each case, disposed at the front end of a handle is a razor head that carries a single or double razor blade. The razor head can be integrally formed with the handle as a molded plastic part. If the razor head is separate from the handle and is to be secured thereto in an exchangeable manner via an appropriate mechanism, it is designated as a so-called razor blade unit, with a single or double razor blade being fixedly embedded in a plastic body or housing. The razor blade unit can be connected to the handle from a dispenser in a one-handed operation to form the complete razor. After use, the razor blade unit can again be separated from the handle and a new razor blade unit can be taken up via the coupling mechanism.
A razor head in the form of such a razor blade unit of the aforementioned general type is disclosed in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,668, according to which twin razor blades are embedded in a basic plastic body via a positive connection. The razor blades are wrapped with a wire in such a way that windings thereof are spaced from one another and extend parallel to one another, with the windings extending over the cutting edges of the razor blades at right angles and representing a protection from injury. The protective wire furthermore provides a fixing connection between the twin blades and the plastic body. The protective wire winding significantly improves the shaving characteristics by not only reducing frictional resistance during the shaving process, but also by avoiding injury to the skin, even in non-visible areas, by preventing the skin from folding or bulging ahead of the cutting edges.
Finally, the protective wire prevents a user from accidentally cutting himself on the cutting edges during improper handling of the razor blade unit.
The known razor blade unit has razor blades that are made from standard razor blade steel having a carbon content of about 0.67% by weight, a chromium content of about 13% by weight, and a manganese content of 0.6% by weight. Unfortunately, not only the corrosion resistance of this razor blade steel but also the shaving characteristics of the blades produced therefrom leave something to be desired, so that additional coating treatments are required. Even then, neither is the corrosion problem resolved, nor is it possible by appropriately sharpening the blades to ensure a smooth and gentle shave. This also makes the basic problem acute, namely that the provision of sharper blades also involves an increase in the risk of injury.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve a razor blade unit of the aforementioned general type in such a way that the frictional resistance is considerably reduced, thereby providing the possibility of making the cutting edges of the blades sharper than was previously possible, and on the whole to ensure an even smoother and gentler sliding of the blades over the skin without the risk of injury.